Limnology News
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LIMNOLOGY NEWS News for Alumni and Friends of the Center for Limnology Fall 2018 The Year of the Flood Read more on page 6 Photo: Jeff Miller 3 Go Big Read 5 New Trout Lake Station Director 8 Hold the Salt Limnology on People’s Minds All Year Long Thanks to ‘Go Big Read’ by Adam Hinterthuer This Spring, when it was announced that Chancellor Rebecca Blank had selected Dan Egan’s book “The Death and Life of the Great Lakes” as the UW-Madison’s Go Big Read book, we knew that it was an excellent opportunity to keep limnology in the public discourse all year long. Trout Lake Station (TLS) staff hosted a book discussion for more than 40 northern Wisconsin residents at TLS. Our director Jake Vander Zanden (who Egan quotes in the book) joined Egan for a public discussion at a Madison bookstore and moderated Q & A after Egan’s official UW-Madison lecture. Our blog published posts on the Great Lakes and invasive species throughout the year. It was great to see a sustained interest in freshwater sciences, but nothing was more rewarding than watching 200 people Dan Egan answers questions from a crowd of more than 200 cram into Working Draft Beer Company for our Science on people for the CFL-sponsored “Science on Tap-Madison” event. Tap-Madison event in October. From the Director Photo: Adam Hinterthuer Egan had just finished up his week of speaking engagements Photo: Jeff Miller at the UW-Madison, including a public talk at UW Memorial Union’s Shannon Hall to more than 1,000 people Greetings! I’m excited to share recap the unprecedented the night before. When the CFL teamed up with University Communications to add a final, more casual event to that our inland lakes spent a lot floods in Madison, how they Egan’s agenda, we didn’t know what to expect. of time in the spotlight on the swamped the Center for What we got was an engaged and inquisitive standing-room-only crowd joining in a conversation with Egan to talk UW-Madison campus this year. Limnology (CFL) basement, about how human activity, both intentional and accidental, has shaped the entire Great Lakes ecosystem. As you may know, each year the and how they relate to UW-Madison Chancellor selects climate change. We discuss Perhaps the most poignant moment came when someone asked Egan how we, as individuals, could protect the a single book as the focus of a CFL leadership in the open Great Lakes. He responded by saying that, before we can start the hard work of protecting a place, we have to love campus-wide shared reading data movement, introduce it first. And for us to love a place, we have to know it. And the most powerful way to build that sense of place is to experience called ‘Go Big Read.’ the new Trout Lake Station spend time in it when you’re young. Essentially, Egan said, find some kids and get them to a Great Lake. Thousands of UW-Madison Director, explore road salt We couldn’t agree more, and we’re thrilled we were able to help Egan have that conversation. students read the book, and it’s in our lakes and head out on used in scores of courses and a hunt for fish DNA. Each discussion groups across campus of these vignettes highlights Emily Stanley’s Big Year and throughout the state. This the synergy among teaching, by Adam Hinterthuer year’s Go Big Read selection was The Death and Life of research, and outreach that the Great Lakes by Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter we constantly strive for at the CFL. While everyone here at the Center for Limnology had a good year, it’s safe to say Dan Egan. The book tells the remarkable story of the I’ll close with a warm ‘thank you’ to the many generous that 2018 treated Emily Stanley particularly well. ecological changes in the Great Lakes wrought by the alumni, friends, and donors who have financially For starters, she was named a 2018 fellow by the Ecological Society of America introduction of invasive species and other various forms supported the CFL during the past year. Your support (ESA). In an announcement about the award, the ESA wrote that Emily was of environmental mismanagement. With all this attention allows us to sustain our impact, and to train the next recognized for “the quality and importance of her contributions to ecology, for her on the ecology of our lakes, we’ve been taking advantage generation of leaders in limnology and the aquatic ability to identify and lead new ecological frontiers, and for making connections of the opportunity to increase awareness and promote sciences. We couldn’t have done it without you. Please across boundaries that continue to push our field forward.” conversations about our lakes and water resources. It may don’t hesitate to drop me a note and an update. Emily & Griffin Photo: Selfie be a while before another limnology-themed book ends If that weren’t enough, the Association for the Sciences of Limnology and up on the ‘Go Big Read’ list! Oceanography (ASLO) also weighed in, presenting Emily with the 2018 G. Evelyn Hutchinson Award. The G. Jake Vander Zanden I hope you enjoy the latest Limnology News. It has been Evelyn Hutchinson award honors a limnologist or oceanographer who has made considerable contributions to an eventful year and we cover a broad swath of topics Wayland Noland Distinguished Chair and Director knowledge, and whose future work promises a continued legacy of scientific excellence. in this installment. In addition to ‘Go Big Read’ we Center for Limnology, University of Wisconsin-Madison Emily’s award was for her contributions to the understanding of the roles hydrology and the biogeochemistry of nitrogen and carbon play in lake and stream ecology and for “consistently pushing scientists to look beyond Hasler Laboratory of Limnology traditional physical and disciplinary boundaries of freshwater research.” She was presented 680 N. Park Street with the award at the ASLO Summer Meeting in Victoria, British Columbia. Madison, WI 53706 While all of these accolades merely confirmed what we already knew about Emily, it sure was Trout Lake Station nice to see some of the freshwater sciences’ most esteemed professional organizations agree 3110 Trout Lake Station Dr. Boulder Junction, WI 54512 with our assessment. Congrats, Emily! 2 Limnology News limnology.wisc.edu 3 Researchers at the Wisconsin and New Mexico sites created Gretchen Gerrish: Meet the New Trout Lake EDI as a way to take data sharing Station Director by Adam Hinterthuer and archiving mainstream in the Last year we shared the sad news ecological sciences. While it was (for us, at least) that Tim Kratz initially a way to bring diverse LTER was retiring as director of Trout datasets together, Gries, who is a Lake Station (TLS). This year, principal investigator (PI) for the we get to share the happy news project, says that they now work that we have hired his succes- with researchers whether they are sor. We’re thrilled to welcome Gretchen Gerrish to the Center funded by the NSF or not. for Limnology (CFL). (She’ll “It is very, very important to support start summer of 2019.) We asked the ecological researcher in learning her a few questions about her how to publish their data and help current work and what she hopes that process along,” she says. “So we to do in the Northwoods. have professional data scientists to Who are you, where are you support [them].” and what are you currently studying? I am a teacher, mentor, Colin Smith is one of these scientists. researcher, friend, sister, wife, Part of the EDI’s data curation Gretchen and her family - husband, Ben, and mother. I am currently filling team, Smith helps scientists submit and sons, Luke (11) and Alex (8), are all those roles while working as an their datasets to the EDI archives, looking forward to their new adventure in Associate Professor at UW-La writes data management software the Northwoods Crosse. I study evolutionary and leads trainings and workshop ecology in aquatic invertebrates events. Smith says he’s seeing a lot of and am currently studying zooplankton community changes enthusiasm for the EDI. occurring in the Mississippi River in response to invasion by Asian Over the course of their career, a The importance of sharing and Carp. I also am researching a group of marine bioluminescent productive ecological scientist will archiving data is two-fold. First, “People are quickly becoming open ostracods found in coral reef habitats in the Caribbean. publish dozens of scientific papers rather than using only their own to this idea,” he says. “It’s a new What made you apply to head up a research station way up Environmental and pile up mountains of data to get limited datasets from a few study generation of scientists coming up near Boulder Junction? I applied because I want to put my those results. And all too often, says sites, scientists can ask and answer that are used to doing synthesis efforts toward conducting research, mentoring students and CFL senior scientist, Corinna Gries, questions about the natural world science with other people’s data. facilitating science at a place where field studies are a central part Data Initiative all of that data is stuck on that single on much longer timescales and They are also growing up in a of generating new discoveries. I am passionate about promoting scientist’s computer – doomed to at regional or even global scales.